There is no evidence of Jews residing in Britain before the Norman Conquest; all permanent Jewish residents came from Normandy and other areas of northern France. The Norman Jews were primarily moneylenders, because they could not own land nor participate in trades (except for medicine). Catholic doctrine held that moneylending for interest was a sin; therefore, Jews dominated this business. The few references in the Anglo-Saxon laws of the Roman Catholic Church about Jews either relate to Jewish practices about Easter or apply to passing visitors, such as the Gallo-Roman Jews, slave-traders who imported English slaves to the Roman market. William of Malmesbury wrote that William I (William the Conqueror) invited a group of Jews from Rouen to England in 1070, believing that their commercial skills and incoming capital would make England more prosperous.

Website: http://biketownblogger.blogspot.com/